Bear River Basin/Malad River Subbasin
Data | Details |
---|---|
Hydrologic Unit Codes | 16010102, 16010201, 16010202, 16010204 |
Size | 1,290 square miles (825,600 acres) |
Water Bodies with EPA-Approved TMDLs (Category 4a) | See the table below |
Beneficial Uses Affected | Cold water aquatic life, salmonid spawning, domestic and agricultural water supply, primary and secondary contact recreation |
Major Land Uses | Range, grazing, forest, agriculture, urban |
Date Approved by EPA | June 29, 2006, Approval Letter |
Date Bear River Basin Addendum Approved by EPA | September 13, 2013, Approval Letter |
Subbasin Characteristics
The Bear River spans over 550 miles, draining a 470,000-acre watershed that encompasses parts of Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho. The river begins and ends in Utah. These documents address only the Idaho portion of the Bear River and its Idaho tributaries.
2006 Subbasin Assessment and TMDL
Thirty-nine stream segments in the Bear River Basin were listed on the Idaho 1998 § 303(d) list. Several streams in the Bear River Basin enter Utah from Idaho and must comply with any TMDLs established by Utah. The recommended pollutant targets in this document match or exceed state of Utah targets for those streams.
Historically, Bear River water bodies sustained several beneficial uses. Current information suggests some beneficial uses, such as cold water aquatic life and salmonid spawning, are impaired and are not fully supported in several subbasin streams.
Several potential sources of pollutants have been identified in the Bear River Basin, including agriculture, livestock grazing, changes in the natural hydrograph (e.g., water diversion), degraded stream channels and banks, roads, mining, recreation, mass wasting (e.g., landslides), and wastewater treatment plants.
Data indicate North, St. Charles, and Maple Creeks are meeting their beneficial uses for cold water aquatic life. It is recommended that North and St. Charles Creeks be removed from future § 303(d) lists. Although Maple Creek supports cold water aquatic life, it has high levels of bacteria, so a bacteria TMDL was developed. Meadow and Samaria Creeks are intermittent streams with optimum flows less than 1 cubic foot per second; it is suggested that these streams be removed from future § 303(d) lists.
TMDLs were not developed for Dry Creek, Preuss Creek, Snowslide Canyon, Co-Op Creek, Strawberry Creek, and Dairy Creek due to a lack of data. Data sufficient to develop load analyses for each of these streams should be collected in 2006 for completion of a TMDL in 2007.
Several stream segments are listed for flow or habitat alteration. EPA considers certain unnatural conditions such as flow and habitat alteration that do not result from the discharge of specific pollutants, as “pollution.” TMDLs are not required for water bodies impaired by pollution but not specific pollutants; therefore, TMDLs were not established for flow or habitat alteration.
Data imply there are other (unlisted) water bodies with impaired beneficial uses due to high levels of phosphorus and suspended solids. TMDLs were prepared for some of these streams and others are recommended for inclusion on future § 303(d) lists.
2006 TMDL: Streams and Pollutants for Which TMDLs Were Developed
Streams | Pollutants |
---|---|
Alder Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Baily Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Battle Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Bear River | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Bear River Old Channel | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Burton Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Cottonwood Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Cub River | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Deep Creek (HUC 16010202) | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Deep Creek (HUC 16010204) | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Densmore Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Devil Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Eightmile Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Elkhorn Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Fivemile Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Georgetown Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Little Malad River | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Malad River | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Maple Creek | Bacteria |
Mink Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Ovid Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Pearl Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Sheep Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Skinner Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Smith Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Soda Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Stauffer Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Sulphur Canyon Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Thomas Fork | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids, total nitrogen |
Trout Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Weston Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Whiskey Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Williams Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Worm Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
Wright Creek | Total phosphorus, total suspended solids |
2013 Addendum
This document was developed to address five water bodies in the Bear River Basin on Idaho’s § 303(d) list that were not addressed in the original Bear River Basin TMDL (approved in June 2006) due to a lack of data. Adequate data have since become available, resulting in the need for TMDLs to control excess sediment in Dry, Preuss, Snowslide, and Strawberry Creeks and to control excess nutrients in Dairy, Dry, and Strawberry Creeks. The goal of the actions is to restore the water bodies to conditions supporting their beneficial uses: cold water aquatic life, salmonid spawning, and primary contact recreation. In addition, in light of recent data, the lower and upper segments of Co-Op Creek are removed from the state’s list of water bodies impaired by excess sediment and nutrients and the lower segment relisted for flow alteration only.
Additionally, this addendum addresses discharge allocations for six municipal wastewater dischargers in the Bear River Basin. Based on recent data, it establishes limits for Georgetown’s discharge of total phosphorus and total suspended solids and revises the total phosphorus wasteload allocations for the Montpelier, Soda Springs, Grace, Preston, and Franklin wastewater treatment plants.
2013 Addendum: Streams and Pollutants for Which TMDLs Were Developed
Streams | Pollutants |
---|---|
Beaver Creek | Sediment |
Dairy Creek | Nutrients |
Dry Creek | Sediment, nutrients |
Preuss Creek | Sediment |
Snowslide Creek | Sediment |
Strawberry Creek | Sediment, nutrients |
Subbasin Documents
- Bear River/Malad River Subbasin Assessment and Total Maximum Daily Load Plan (March 2006)
- Lower Bear/Malad Subbasin (Malad) Agricultural TMDL Implementation Plan (May 2010)
- Central Bear (Bear River Mainstem): Agriculture (October 2008)
- Northern Middle Bear Implementation Plan: Agriculture (September 2008)
- Southern Middle Bear Implementation Plan: Agriculture (September 2008)
- Bear Lake Subbasin TMDL Implementation Plan: Agriculture (July 2008)
- Bear River & Malad River TMDL Implementation Plan: Forest Service
(April 2008) - Daniels Watershed TMDL Implementation Plan (September 2007)
- Cub River Watershed Agricultural TMDL Implementation Plan
(September 2006) - Bear River Basin: Addendum to the Bear River/Malad Subbasin Assessment and Total Maximum Daily Load Plan for HUCs 16010102, 16010201, 16010202, 16010204 (July 2011; Revised February 2013)
- Bear River Basin: TMDL Five-Year Review (January 2017)
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